Putin and the tiger

This
Monday, the fourth anniversary of the Beslan school hostage crisis, Russian
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin sedated a Siberian tiger to save--or so legend
has it--a state television crew.

As
survivors of the Beslan tragedy gathered at the graveyard outside the North
Ossetian town to mourn the more than 330 victims--mostly children--killed in the
massacre, Putin was roaming the wilderness of Russia's far east. Roaming it with
television cameras and a tranquilizer gun.

"Vladimir
Putin not only managed to see the giant predator up close but also saved our
television crew," a presenter on the state television channel Rossiya said
of the leader's feat at the start of the Monday evening news.

Putin was reportedly visiting a national
park to observe researchers' monitoring of Siberian tigers when he was said to
have saved the day. He is shown on camera threading through a luscious forest
in camouflage gear; then, a moment later, he is seen measuring a sedated tiger
and placing a monitoring transmitter around its neck. Russian and international
media reported that wildlife researchers had taken the prime minister to see a
trapped Amur tiger--the world's biggest--but that the animal suddenly broke loose
and stormed toward the Rossiya camera crew. Putin was there to save the day, quickly
shooting the tiger with a tranquilizer, and saving the crew.

This appears to be yet another stunt that
shapes Putin's strong, masculine image--in the past few years he has been
photographed swimming with dolphins, fishing shirtless, and practicing judo.
But instead of cultivating that image, the former president (now prime minister)
needs to focus on protecting Russia's
journalists from attackers of a different species.

In the past three days, two journalists
have been murdered and a third one severely beaten in the restive Russian North
Caucasus region. Magomed Yevloyev, the owner
of the critical news Web site Ingushetiya, was shot and killed by Ingush police on Sunday, after enduring
a barrage of harassment and intimidation in retaliation for his work. Telman
Alishayev, a Dagestan television host, died in
the hospital this morning after assassins shot him in the head and shoulder on
Tuesday. And Miloslav Bitokov, editor of the independent weekly Gazeta Yuga
is currently hospitalized with a concussion in a Kabardino-Balkariya hospital
after three attackers severely beat him in the entrance of his home in the city
of Nalchik.

If he truly wants to bolster his image,
the prime minister should take the lead in mobilizing all resources under his
considerable authority to find, prosecute, and bring to justice the killers of
Magomed and Telman, and whoever attacked Miloslav.

(Courtesy the Telegraph)

Nina Ognianova is coordinator of CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia Program. A native of Bulgaria, Ognianova has carried out numerous fact-finding and advocacy missions across the region. Her commentaries on press freedom have appeared in the Guardian, the International Herald Tribune, the Huffington Post, and the EU Observer, among others. Follow her on Twitter @Kremlinologist1